everything but the girl

So last night I went to Toloache with laughingirl and jlh and had amazing food and dessert and three margaritas and then the restaurant treated each of us to a shot of tequila so i didn't get home till after ten and missed Show airing live but was totally okay with that because I knew by the time I woke up i'd be able to get it from iTunes sans ads so ( I watched it this morning and... )

Summer is ending, fall is beginning.

Or if you're in the other hemisphere, happy spring!

So, what was your best fannish memory of the summer/winter?

A new fandom, a rekindled love for an old one? A particularly wonderful big bang you read, or the accomplishment of finishing one? An event, con, concert, meet-up? A new friendship, or finding someone you'd lost touch with popping up in a new one?

Links greatly appreciated!

And... What are you looking toward most this fall/spring?

I've been busy this summer! And if I can't be at D*con, I can at least do something vaguely geeky. So DW and now White Collar ep catchup + a giant bowl of popcorn and a glass of shiraz is what it'll be.

Luckily my flist has seen their way to leading me to two particular photos today:

One is Jared's mouth in this pic. (thank you deirdre_c!)

The other is ( this pic of Jason as Lucius in DH- spoiler for how Lucius looks in DH ) (omgomgomg THANK YOU gmth!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

What picture and/or type of popcorn made you smile today?

And is anyone considering the SPN cons in SF (sigh, already planning to go to Vegas that weekend for my 40th birthday so I don't think it's possible) and/or Nashville? Nashville may be possible for me, as it's not terribly far. Damn, I seem to already have a conflict on Nashville-weekend :( and Boston-weekend. And I have to be in LA the weekend after this February's con, and I don't think I can justify spending a whole week out there. So, why not somewhere in Texas, Creation-people?

So back in the summer, a friend pointed me to Pepsi's RefreshEverything challenge, which is sort of like the Chase Community Giving project but they cap it at 1000 submissions per month, and you basically have to get your info submitted within a minute of midnight on the first of the month - but you can put the details of your submission/application into the system in advance, and then just (supposedly) click through to submit it at said midnight hour.

I tried last month to submit for FictionAlley because that sort of a grant would allow us to do a major update and overhaul on the site which we can't do on our current servers or using our current back-end, and it would also allow us to fund some larger projects that our current server/site configuration can't manage. Plus we could buy servers, like OTW has; this is a relatively new issue for us, as the company that'd been hosting us since 2004 told us in May that we would have to start paying $200 per month for server space - we've been working to get somewhere cheaper, but if we win this grant, we won't have to worry about server overload or other server issues.

Didn't manage it last month because the wifi of the hotel where we were staying was problematic and I just could not log in. But tonight I am home and things are working and I have Gwen on standby if my internet goes out or something crazy like that. However, I've tried to update our info and I keep getting this error:

Internal Server Error - Write
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Reference #4.14f902cc.1283264147.10959d1d

Anyone have any clue what it means? Is the server we're on damaged or glitchy? Should I just go in and do a new application instead?

Sigh, are there any other crowdsourced grants that we can apply for? Regardless of whether we can submit for this Pepsi challenge thingy, we're definitely starting up a fundraiser for server $$ in the next week or so. Anyone want to help with icons/buttons and/or a new front page banner?

They're interested in including some inspired-by-Book-Seven fanart - Luna's room, Godric's Hollow, Ron finding Harry and Hermione in the Forest of Dean, Snape's memories, Regulus Black, or any Horcruxes.

If you have something of yours - or something to recommend - please zap me the URL and the artist's name/contact info.

Comments are screened - please feel free to share this post around.


(Yes, I know I am so far behind on everything else - kids started school yesterday, I'm on a new citywide committee, RL work is busy, there are dental appointments to take the kids to, and our four days in Atlantis were wonderful but exhausting (and omg way too expensive to ever want to voyage there again).)

...and it needs to say "Vids are kinds of fair use."

You may've seen the posts on otw_news - as well as the reports on CNN, from the EFF, and all over twitter about the fact that jailbreaking phones - including the iPhone - does not violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act - and nor does ripping a DVD to get source material for fanvids.

In other words, you're not breaking the law if you rip a DVD to make a noncommercial, educational and/or artistic fanvid.

"The purpose of the proceeding is to determine whether current technologies that control access to copyrighted works are diminishing the ability of individuals to use works in lawful, noninfringing ways." That's what the Librarian of Congress said in releasing the exception, and what I find interesting and fantastic about it is that it explicitly confirms that there are circumstances in which fanvidding is a lawful, noninfringing activity/action/act. If it was always unlawful and consistently infringing, this ruling could not have happened, because, as the Librarian said in the end of the ruling:

[It] is sometimes necessary to circumvent access controls on DVDs in order to make these kinds of fair uses of short portions of motion pictures.

Vids? Are kinds of fair use! Yes, many of us have believed this and argued it by analogy and by examining cases and the congressional record, but to have the Librarian of Congress - who was given the power in 1998 to determine whether exemptions could be granted to the DMCA - say that a vid is a kind of fair use is the sort of thing that will impact vidders because it is so explicit and affirmative.

A noncommercial vid is, presumptively, a kind of fair use, if there is any educational or artistic value, criticism or commentary contained therein.

So sayeth the Librarian of Congress!

(And maybe when this is revisited in two years the "college/university" exemption can be expanded to the lower grades?)



I am disappointed that the EFF doesn't plan to extend its discussion of the DMCA at Dragon*Con in light of this significant change in the DMCA as it impacts fans - I emailed them yesterday and they said it was too late to make any changes, but they may discuss it in the hacking session, too.

Perhaps one of the other tracks, like YA or Anime, can add on an early morning (CLE available?!?) session on Saturday or Sunday for lawyers and vidders to discuss the impact? I really wish it had happened two weeks ago so chaeche and I could've discussed it at Infinitus, and I wish I could be in Chicago next week to celebrate with other vidders, too! Perfect timing, LoC!

Inspired by (and created for) "One Safe Place" by delanach as part of the 2010 spn_j2_bigbang; the story is an AU for SPN post-Season Four's "Sex and Violence".
Click the pic to view the vid....





Song: Tombstone by Crowded House
Featured Characters: Chuck, Anna, Sam/Dean
Fic Summary: After their encounter with the siren, after truths came out that neither Sam nor Dean ever wanted to admit to, Dean makes a decision that has far reaching consequences. Chuck wakes up that same morning to a pile of fractured rewrites in his head and his day goes rapidly downhill from there. He has to come to terms with the fact that his characters are real, and that he might hold the key to saving the world. All he has to do is piece together the future.

Happy birthday, deirdre_c! I'm sure Dean has this song among his classic rock tapes somewhere, and while it's not exactly a follow-up to SPiNa Colada from two years ago, it can't be a complete coincidence that Romeo & Juliet was released almost exactly two years after Escape (The Pina Colada Song) or that the version used in this vid is from The Killers' Sam's Town LP era. Can it?

Click the link to view the vid (youTube blocked embedding)
Title: Romeo & Juliet
Song: A cover of Dire Straits' "Romeo & Juliet", performed by The Killers
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Through the last second of the fifth season finale. Do not watch this video unless you've seen that episode, or want to be spoiled.

( Notes about the vid )

Btw, you can also download it here.

Last week? Infinitus. All Infinitus, all the time. I was pretty much jill-of-all-trades hither and yon at the Royal Pacific in the con-space, and for a few hours each day, with my family. Why my husband thought I would be able to look after the kids for two hours each evening is just... But it was amazing to watch them enjoy the kids' program (no, it wasn't a kids' track, they were just in a room for crafts, activities, discussions and fun stuff) and by 2012, Harry will (kindasorta) be almost old enough to actually be a registrant.

The most gorgeous thing about Infinitus to me was being able to walk around the hotel, and especially around Hogsmeade, and see friends everywhere. At NoaTW and when I went back to the park for an hour on Sunday after dinner, before the amazing Drinks + HBP At The Pool extravaganza (um, Zoners, can HP people GANZA too?), I saw familiar and friendly faces everywhere; it was like walking around Hogsmeade on an Old Boys' and Girls' weekend, like a page out of our own AU of Paradigm of Uncertainty. I could go back any random day, but I think I'm going to save the trips to the WWoHP for when friends are in town to see it. I'll go with anyone I know, because I don't want to walk around there alone just yet...

I have reports and squees and thoughts on con-crit (pun intended) and a few scattered photos, but if you posted a con report before yesterday, or have any photos that I happen to be in, please let me know! And if you took any photos that show the LCD screens when they had the gorgeous front and back cover images that jin_fenghuang did (you can also see them here) she would love to see them! Must finish off my spn_j2_bigbang vid first, though.

Brief Infinitus linkspam:
Shaebay's amazing 'plant' information which you may've seen in the trees
A piece from the UMichigan school paper about A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel, the latter of which was shown on Saturday night and which caused those massive lines. The shows were both written and produced - by a team of undergrads (and a few grad students) at the university; they filmed it back in 2009 and it became a massive YouTube sensation, sort of like Potter Puppet Pals in days of old, and by showing at Infinitus, almost 1300 people got to see it.
Rumor has it Universal ran though a multi-year supply of Butterbeer mugs in about two to three weeks. They've been running short on other things, too, because the demand is outpacing the supply, especially things like Snape-items (including his wand) and Pygmy Puffs. Lucky me, I have a mug and a Puff!
An interesting post that discusses not just Infinitus but also Avatar the Series with some anthropological perspective
Oh, and do friend ascendio2012. We won't have much news in the coming weeks or months, so it won't be very highly trafficked for now, but if you add it now, you'll start to see stuff as we post it. An amazing team is coming together for 2012 and I cannot wait!

This week: Liss came back to Miami with me, and we hung out, watched Glee, talked HP and cons and weather and amazing cookies and she helped me shop for groceries as we had nothing in the house. My sister went out of town today and her dog Zoe is moving in tomorrow, and my kids can't wait! And alas, the likelihood of me going to Comic Con has basically slipped to a virtual zero, because Aaron has to be in LA for deposition prep by 11 AM PDT on Monday and there's not enough time for me to do my Harry Potter panel on Sunday afternoon, and then fly home in time for him to fly out to LA. I will miss all of you, but between trips to NYC and D*Con this fall - and hopefully How to Succeed in February or March, I'll see a lot of you in the next few months including...

Next week in Washington, DC or Williamsburg, VA. We're coming up to DC next Friday and would love to see as many people as can make it for dinner at Bua just off DuPont Circle on Saturday night. Still finalizing times but it should be around 5:30. LMK if you're possibly able to make it, and I'll let you know as the plans finalize.

Has anyone done the Washington Monument tour recently? I have actually never been up but we have tickets to go up on Saturday morning.

Next Sunday we are heading for Williamsburg, and I hope to see bookshop and eibil_libbie if she is in town. Anyone else in the general vicinity? We'll be in the area through August 7.

Of course, the night before we go, roguebitch will be joining me in Miami Beach for OMGOMG a Crowded House concert! We have front row seats! There will be a Neil right in front of us and we will scream and squee and sing along a lot! I cannot wait!

I know I've been bad at keeping up on LJ recently - how many days behind am I on that HP meme? I promise I'll start tomorrow - but now that Infinitus is over I'll have a bit more time, I hope. I've hardly read anything in a week, so message me if there's something you think I need to read.

Last week? Infinitus. All Infinitus, all the time. I was pretty much jill-of-all-trades hither and yon at the Royal Pacific in the con-space, and for a few hours each day, with my family. Why my husband thought I would be able to look after the kids for two hours each evening is just... But it was amazing to watch them enjoy the kids' program (no, it wasn't a kids' track, they were just in a room for crafts, activities, discussions and fun stuff) and by 2012, Harry will (kindasorta) be almost old enough to actually be a registrant.

The most gorgeous thing about Infinitus to me was being able to walk around the hotel, and especially around Hogsmeade, and see friends everywhere. At NoaTW and when I went back to the park for an hour on Sunday after dinner, before the amazing Drinks + HBP At The Pool extravaganza (um, Zoners, can HP people GANZA too?), I saw familiar and friendly faces everywhere; it was like walking around Hogsmeade on an Old Boys' and Girls' weekend, like a page out of our own AU of Paradigm of Uncertainty. I could go back any random day, but I think I'm going to save the trips to the WWoHP for when friends are in town to see it. I'll go with anyone I know, because I don't want to walk around there alone just yet...

I have reports and squees and thoughts on con-crit (pun intended) and a few scattered photos, but if you posted a con report before yesterday, or have any photos that I happen to be in, please let me know! And if you took any photos that show the LCD screens when they had the gorgeous front and back cover images that jin_fenghuang did (you can also see them here) she would love to see them! Must finish off my spn_j2_bigbang vid first, though.

Brief Infinitus linkspam:
Shaebay's amazing 'plant' information which you may've seen in the trees
A piece from the UMichigan school paper about A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel, the latter of which was shown on Saturday night and which caused those massive lines. The shows were both written and produced - by a team of undergrads (and a few grad students) at the university; they filmed it back in 2009 and it became a massive YouTube sensation, sort of like Potter Puppet Pals in days of old, and by showing at Infinitus, almost 1300 people got to see it.
Rumor has it Universal ran though a multi-year supply of Butterbeer mugs in about two to three weeks. They've been running short on other things, too, because the demand is outpacing the supply, especially things like Snape-items (including his wand) and Pygmy Puffs. Lucky me, I have a mug and a Puff!
An interesting post that discusses not just Infinitus but also Avatar the Series with some anthropological perspective
Oh, and do friend ascendio2012. We won't have much news in the coming weeks or months, so it won't be very highly trafficked for now, but if you add it now, you'll start to see stuff as we post it. An amazing team is coming together for 2012 and I cannot wait!

This week: Liss came back to Miami with me, and we hung out, watched Glee, talked HP and cons and weather and amazing cookies and she helped me shop for groceries as we had nothing in the house. My sister went out of town today and her dog Zoe is moving in tomorrow, and my kids can't wait! And alas, the likelihood of me going to Comic Con has basically slipped to a virtual zero, because Aaron has to be in LA for deposition prep by 11 AM PDT on Monday and there's not enough time for me to do my Harry Potter panel on Sunday afternoon, and then fly home in time for him to fly out to LA. I will miss all of you, but between trips to NYC and D*Con this fall - and hopefully How to Succeed in February or March, I'll see a lot of you in the next few months including...

Next week in Washington, DC or Williamsburg, VA. We're coming up to DC next Friday and would love to see as many people as can make it for dinner at Bua just off DuPont Circle on Saturday night. Still finalizing times but it should be around 5:30. LMK if you're possibly able to make it, and I'll let you know as the plans finalize.

Has anyone done the Washington Monument tour recently? I have actually never been up but we have tickets to go up on Saturday morning.

Next Sunday we are heading for Williamsburg, and I hope to see bookshop and eibil_libbie if she is in town. Anyone else in the general vicinity? We'll be in the area through August 7.

Of course, the night before we go, roguebitch will be joining me in Miami Beach for OMGOMG a Crowded House concert! We have front row seats! There will be a Neil right in front of us and we will scream and squee and sing along a lot! I cannot wait!

I know I've been bad at keeping up on LJ recently - how many days behind am I on that HP meme? I promise I'll start tomorrow - but now that Infinitus is over I'll have a bit more time, I hope. I've hardly read anything in a week, so message me if there's something you think I need to read.